JOE JOYCE has snapped up Anthony Joshua’s offer of a Team GB battle of the golden boys but doubts he will be true to his word.
AJ and the Juggernaut, 37, did thousands of rounds in Sheffield ahead of 33-year-old Joshua’s London 2012 Olympic gold.
Anthony Joshua is keen to face Joe Joyce in the summerPA
And Joyce was robbed of that same top medal – and the mega-money pro and sponsorship deals AJ was handed – when he was stitched up with a silver after peppering Tony Yoka in the Rio 2016 final.
There was always respect and messages swapped between the pair until Joyce reckons AJ ghosted him after his 2019 loss to Andy Ruiz Jr.
But, ahead of Saturday’s comeback bout with Jermaine Franklin, Joshua has said his fellow Londoner is his ideal summer rival – and not presumed opponent Dillian Whyte.
“Dillian Whyte not so much,” Joshua said about the next step. “Joe Joyce is the one that interests me the most”
Joyce is one of the mandatory challengers for WBA, IBF and WBO king Oleksandr Usyk but – in the bizarre way boxing works – Daniel Dubois, who Joyce dominated in a 2020 triumph, is ahead in the queue.
While waiting, the Putney giant has to come through Chinese southpaw Zhilei Zang on April 15 and then he will hold AJ to his big talk.
Joyce told SunSport: “It’s good that Joshua has finally found his tongue about me.
“I thought he might have thrown his phone in the Hudson river after he lost in New York and stopped replying to my messages.
“I have a proper fight in two weeks against someone he backed away from – a 6ft 6in Olympic bronze winner. He’s fighting someone without that pedigree who looks about a foot shorter than him.
“ I saw AJ and Eddie promise that the winner of Franklin and Whyte last November was going to get this AJ fight and they’ve gone with the geezer who lost!
“But if we both come through I would have that fight in the summer, two of the best in the UK going at it and the winner fights Tyson Fury!
“But I’m just not sure he really wants it.
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Joe Joyce thought Anthony Joshua ghosted him after his loss to Andy Ruiz JrGetty
“It’s so easy to make though – my management and his management know each other well and I understand Frank and Eddie and BT and DAZN would combine on it no problem.
“British boxing needs these fights – no more messing about”
“So I’m all in , no problem, but I fully expect them to find an excuse to back out when it actually comes time to sign a contract.
“I don’t think that AJ wants an opponent like me next.
“He may talk about tough fights against me and Fury but I reckon he needs to rebuild his confidence before he gets Juggernauted.“